by Brian C » Mon May 08, 2023 1:21 pm
Mike went from “Rivtow”, which is the easiest to access. The tall breakwater creates an annoying windshadow for non-kiters but otherwise it’s a good spot for flatwater fun. You do have to look out for impaired boaters though!
The Sasquatch Park day area a few kms downwind has a huge windshadow at the launch. Francis used to windsurf there sometimes on a big board that was easy to slog in/out from the windline, so it might work for winging too, but definitely not a kite launch.
A few of us still enjoy the occasional day out of Bear Creek. It has much better wind but it arrives later in the day so it works best if you camp there. Also the road is very rough with tire-eating shale so you must (!) drive slowly, making day-trips tedious. The launch is always fine for windsurfing/winging but only suitable for kites when the lake level is low enough to expose the upwind beach (usually July sometime). Also very desirable to bring a rescue craft because very few boats come that far down the lake when it is windy, and the downwind shoreline is mostly cliffs.
Despite all those “issues”, Bear Creek can produce beautiful sailing conditions with nice rolling lake swell and much steadier wind than Rivtow. I wish I was better at predicting when it works best there, but in my experience it’s on a thermal day that is boosted by a pre-frontal push (ie right before the weather switches from warm sun to rain).
Hope that helps.